MiaFarrow.org |
Humanitarian and Advocacy Information |
Archives
| January 7, 2011 |
On January 9, 2011, southern Sudan will begin a week-long vote on independence from the rest of the country and analysts have warned that this could plunge the country back into civil war. Starting today, MTV and mtvU will promote the Satellite Sentinel Project across an array of on-air and online properties, encouraging young people to become peace monitors, inform their friends of the latest happenings in Sudan and be prepared to mobilize support should violence emerge. Specific calls to action can be found at Sudan.mtvU.com <http://www.mtvu.com/activism/sudan-action-now/> .
"Satellite Sentinel Project welcomes MTV and its viewers -- who have been standing up for years to end human rights crimes in Darfur and southern Sudan -- to our early warning system team," said George Clooney, who initiated the project. "Frankly, our team of policy wonks and super nerds could use an injection of MTV style."
In order to generate rapid responses to human rights concerns, the Satellite Sentinel Project combines satellite imagery analysis, field reports and crowd-sourced map data from Google Map Maker to prevent violence, and focuses world attention on Sudan. The project uses commercial satellites passing over the border of northern and southern Sudan to capture possible threats to civilians, observe the movement of displaced people, detect bombed and razed villages, or note other evidence of pending mass violence.To become part of the open-source, early warning system for Sudan, young people can follow the Satellite Sentinel Project on Twitter @SudanSentinel. By doing this, they'll get the latest updates and action alerts, and be ready to help put pressure on public officials to respond, if necessary.